Santa Clara Volleyball Defeats Utah 3-0

Santa Clara avenged a 3-2 loss at Utah last year with a 3-0 win over the Utes Saturday night at the Leavey Center. Game scores were 25-20, 25-21 and 25-17. Santa Clara is now 5-3 and Utah is 6-4.

Krista Kelley, a Sandy, Utah native, was named to her third straight all-tournament team when she picked up SCU All-Tournament honors. In addition, Lindsy Davigeadono was also named all-tournament.

"The good piece was Lindsy really played well and was a great weapon for us. She had great energy and when the team needed a lift after losing to Arizona it was nice to see her step and play well," said Bronco head coach Jon Wallace.

"The major difference was our energy and our comfort level on the court. We might have had first-night jitters at home vs. Arizona. Tonight we were more comfortable. The team did not like the feeling of how they played on Thursday. It was good to see a young team take the day off to re-group and head in a good direction," continued Wallace. "The team fed of the crowd's energy and it was really nice for a lot of their fellow Bronco student-athletes, including the soccer and cross country teams, to be here supporting us."

Santa Clara hit .315 in the match with the Utes hitting .173. Both teams had four team blocks; and SCU led with 42 digs to the Utes 30. Individually, Krista Kelley knocked down a team-high 13 kills, hitting .226 with eight digs and two aces. Lindsy Davigeadono collected 10 kills, hitting .474. Katherine Douglas and Dana Knudsen both had nine kills, with Knudsen hitting .438 and Douglas adding 11 digs.

In game one the teams were tied four times when Kelley crushed a back-row ace to take a 7-6 lead. Quickly Utah scored four straight on two SCU errors and two Ute kills to take a 10-7 lead and push Wallace to call a timeout. Three straight Dana Knudsen kills later and the Broncos had it tied up at 11-11, taking a 13-11 lead on a Ute error and a team block by Davigeadono and Knudsen. Knotting it up three more times at 14, 15 and 16, Santa Clara went up 20-16 on kills by Douglas and Kelley when the Utes called their final timeout of the game. SCU came out with a kill by Kelley, another by Douglas and a team block by Kelley and Davigeadono to take a 23-16 lead. Santa Clara went up 24-17 when the Utes rallied to score three points before a Douglas kill to the block run up as a winner and SCU won game one 25-20. Santa Clara hit .205 in game one and the Utes hit .132. SCU was led by Kelley's five kills. Knudsen had four kills, hitting .500. Morrison paced the Broncos with eight digs.

In game two, the two teams played back and forth, tying it up six times when SCU went up 9-6 on three straight Bronco kills by Davigeadono, Kelley and Knudsen when the Utes called time. Utah pulled within one three times before they tied it and took a 13-12 lead on a tip. Santa Clara came back quick to tie it at 13-13 on Kelley kills the back row. Knotted at 14 and 15, Utah took a 17-15 lead with two kills. Santa Clara struck back with another Davigeadono kill and a team block to tie it at 17. SCU called time on two Utah points that put the Utah up 19-17. A kill by Knudsen in the middle, a team block by the Broncos, a kill by Schmidt and a Ute error and SCU was back up 21-19. SCU took a 24-21 lead on a Ute service error and a kill by Douglas off the block; and then won game two on an ace by Kelley. SCU hit .324 to Utah's .222.

In game three, Santa Clara took a 5-2 lead and then Utah scrapped back to tie it at 6-6 when Schmidt knocked down a kill to the right side to make it 7-6 Broncos. The teams tied it five times when Kelley knocked down a cross-court back-row kill for SCU and then a Ute error made it 13-11 SCU. Santa Clara took a 17-13 lead when Utah called for time. The rally was paced by a kill by Kayla Lommori, a Ute error and Douglas and Kelley kills. Santa Clara kept the lead at five on an ace and a kill by Douglas, making it 19-14 SCU. The Utes called timeout No. 2 of game three when SCU scored on two straight kills by Knudsen and Davigeadono, taking a 21-15 SCU lead. SCU scored five of the next seven points to win game three, 25-17, with a Schmidt killing finishing off the Utes.